One for Sorrow

I feel like I haven't posted in forever. I was away for a while for my brother's wedding, which was really fun. Although he's not too much like the character as a type, if I were to describe how my family feels about my brother, I think it's probably something like the way Neville fans feel about Neville...and his new wife's family and friends seem to feel the same way about her, so it was a pretty happy wedding.

Also, got an OUTSTANDING on the Level 3 WOMBAT--woo-hoo! I got O's on the second two and EE on the first one which was supposed to be the easiest. This is just like in high school when we'd get assigned summer reading and I'd get really into it and then get a bad grade when we were tested because they'd ask questions about ridiculous minutia in the story that I never remembered. The second two WOMBATs were about things I actually thought about. Anyway it’s pathetic how validated I feel about a pretend grade. But then, I was just as eager to find out Harry's OWL results and those were somebody else's pretend grades.

I'd wanted to post something before I left on this conversation I was reading on a list...I'm having trouble making it coherent, but figured I ought to throw it out before DH if I was going to throw it out at all. Especially after jlh posted about the anniversary of The Loving Decision, which ruled that a state (in that case, Virginia) could not nullify a marriage on the basis of race. I recommend the post. In it she also brought up the more fandom-related point of how difficult it seems it is to talk about race in fandom, and this other conversation was also about race in HP as related to real life racism. Specifically, this was about

( Snape's Worst Memory. )

What I'm about to say seems so obvious it's silly to even say it, yet I found myself thinking about it after some recent conversations, including some in the comments of my last post. We were talking about fandom splitting down the middle with Purists vs. Revisionists in LOTR, for instance, and how in HP it sometimes seems like Gryffindor vs. Slytherin fans. This connected to recent discussions about people leaving fandom etc., and canon defenders, and the thing that always confuses me is ( Last I checked, Slytherins were canon too! )

I was reading something on a list today about Slytherins being evil, perhaps specifically due to the fact that their house was based on Pure bloodlines (something that's changed to "ambition and cunning" by Harry's first year, though was possibly pretty unremarkable an idea thousands of years ago-Durmstrang doesn't even accept Muggleborns iirc). Anyway, there was the comment, "Unless of course one considers Draco to be a good Slytherin, which I most definitely don't." Somewhere else there was another essay on Slughorn being the "true" Slytherin--what they were before Voldemort, and so what they should be. I've written about the idea of Slughorn as "The Good Slytherin" before, and this is sort of the next step from that. Because I was thinking that while at this point I wouldn't say Draco was a Good Slytherin (meaning the Slytherin who is a good person), I did think he had potential in ways that Slughorn really did not.

( And here's why. )

Well, this is the thing about lists, you never know when I'm going to prattle on so much in a reply that it creates a post in itself. First Slughorn, now...this. But I thought it was interesting because recently I know I was talking to somebody about why Occlumency and throwing off Imperius were so different and why Harry sucks at one and is good at the other. I was reading a discussion about Harry's greatest strengths and weaknesses (does he need to learn to keeps his mind shut like Snape says?) and it got me around to seeing what may be the difference.

( Occlumency vs. Imperius, Slytherin vs. Gryffindor )

It seems like in the past few days I've run across an awful lot of posts explaining how people other than the poster think. Boy, I love posts like that (not) ( especially when they're explaining me. )

I was reading this discussion on reenka's lj that got into...well, I think this part took off from the idea of what's "normal" in the WW and different houses and that made me (  think about cunning )

I had some thoughts reading the recent shipping manifestos, particularly the H/D one and this thread here, which has some great stuff in it. Anyway, it related back to some other recent discussions and got me thinking about relating to Slytherins and the fact that ( we really don't know any. )

Yes, I'm afraid it's another meta-post--the discussions always inspire follow-ups! This one sort of spins off the idea of the Trio being the model of friendship to which everyone should aspire (as opposed to Malfoy and his goons) and asks how exactly does Slytherin work?

( Inside that mysterious house...Warning: Long!! )


Sorry that got WAY LONG. I don't know how, but it did.

So there were these big wanks recently, and they got me thinking about the whole process of being a fan, using the examples from my own experiences, especially with The Boy (you know, the one who inspires all that wank).

( The point is, what is a fictional character and how do we relate to them...or something? )

I had dinner with my brother last night and he summed up Bed and Breakfasts perfectly. He said, "They tell you it's cozy. Really it's really more like staying with a great aunt you don't really know."

And that's why I like hotels.

Yes, I'm still obsessed with Slytherins--at least in this lj. I do manage to have conversations about other things in real life. epicyclical and wayfairer were having a conversation about how their symbolism is inconsistent and I have to agree. Specifically I've been realizing that part of what disturbs me so much is the way it seems like JKR not only has her "good" characters hate them but also, as an author, makes them earn that hatred at every turn. In some ways--and this isn't a direct parallel but it was helpful to me in understanding how I felt--it's like she portrays them a lot like anti-Semitic Jewish stereotypes but then hangs a swastika over them so we can convince ourselves we're right to despise them.

( More on all that here... )